Kuwait backs call to extend oil output cuts

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the proposed extension of output cuts aimed to bring global commercial oil inventories down to the five-year average and stabilize the market.USA bank Goldman Sachs said the deal would likely extend the oil price rebound "although the rally so far.has remained modest compared to the move that occurred last year when the OPEC cuts were first announced".

The crisis-hit OPEC nation, which relies on oil for some 94 percent of its export revenue, has long fought for "fair" oil prices.

"We believe that the market may not be balanced before the end of the year, and we also observe an annual seasonal decrease of winter demand, so we need to get through this period", the minister said.

OPEC crude production rose by 65,000 barrels per day in April to 31.78 million barrels per day, as higher output from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia more than offset lower flows from Libya and Iran, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its May Oil Market Report.

Saudi Arabia and Russian Federation, leading a push by 24 nations to reduce the oil glut, proposed on Monday that producers should extend their supply curbs when they meet on May 25 in Vienna.

Venezuela is undergoing a wave of unrest with protesters angry at an economy in crisis, with food and medicine shortages and soaring inflation.

"Our goal is to balance the market and to remove the surplus (from stocks)", Novak told reporters in St Petersburg. You can continue accessing it for as little as $1 a day with a special early bird Polymerupdate discounted price. Saudi Arabian production in April average 9.97 million barrels per day, nearly 1 percent below its quota under the multilateral deal.

On Monday, Russia and Saudi Arabia called for extending the output cuts ahead of an OPEC meeting on May 25.

The willingness to prolong the cuts, aimed at easing a global glut, is likely to sway other countries to do the same, according to Goldman Sachs Group.

The IEA concluded that the oil market was close to balance in the first quarter of the year, with average supply building by 100,000 bpd on a global level, and at 300,000 bpd for OECD members. However, the agency noted an improving outlook for United States crude oil production, which is seen rising by 345,000 b/d from the previous year, and up 790,000 b/d from the end of 2016.

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